The Twelve Labours of Wonder Woman
by KsenninJR
Summary: A young and naïve Wonder Woman is manipulated by Olympian godly agendas into performing a perverse series of tasks to decide the survival of the Amazons.
1. Chapter 1

FIRST PROLOGUE: THE DEBATE

Some places and things are states of mind, ways of thinking, ways of seeing.

Depending on the chosen perspective, Love and War were abstract concepts contraposed yet interwoven in the field of metaphysical consideration, or maybe were instead antropomorphical manifestations engaged in post-coital chit-chat on a terrace at nebulous Olympus.

"My husband won't be pleased." Aphrodite smiled, long golden hair pooled all about, her beauty made even more luminous by the sheen of recent sexual exertions. "Again."

Ares, Olympian god of War, shrugged. Rising from the couch, he gathered his scattered attire, which could be obsidian armor, or a designer business suit, depending on the point of view. "Never stopped you before."

The goddess of Love stretched languorously, her body's contours redefining sensuality with every minor shift. "Love knows no boundaries."

"And Boundaries are meant to be broken in war."

"Tarry longer, lover."

Ares shook his head. "I must go."

"Of course. You got what you wanted already."

"You wanted it, too, I recall."

"I always do. Love is Want." She turned face down, one finger playing with her golden locks. "Everything is."

"Everything?"

"Everything is Desire. Everything is Want. Everything is Love."

Ares did not find her tone amusing. Love was often selfish and petty and self-deluding. Irritating, too.

"Maybe I only needed you. For a moment." He smiled. "Need is not want, Sister."

"You want what you need, Brother."

"The act is more important than the impulse."

She smiled, arching her back fetchingly.

"The act of Love. The culmination of the impulse. Both are the same."

Ares sneered. "No. The act of conquest. Of victory. The basic need is just a starting point. I took you. I had you. I came, I conquered. Literally. I got what I needed. The act of taking it, that is all that really matters."

"Please!" She laughed. "You did it because you desired. You desired me, my dear Brother! You desired my body. My Love."

"Maybe my need was of conflict with your lame, pathetic husband. Things have been too boring around here lately."

"Even your desire for conflict, for violence, is still desire, dear Ares. In the end, you are still beholden to me, and you know it. You all are."

"Insignificant. The action is the reality. The taking, the possession, the conflict of bodies, penetration, explosive culmination. It is all conflict, it is all War."

"Love of War is still Love."

He strode several paces away, and long shadows filled the terrace.

"Dear Sister, I took you, used you, and now I leave you, as all always do. Where is your Love now? Once the act has been achieved what have you left, Sister?" His voice became gravel under a war chariot's wheels. "You are just the discarded spoils of War."

"You Little Shit," she said, angry and hurtful, as love so often is. "You can't even understand your own desires, the ones that rule you and everyone else. Desire moves the worlds!"

"I recognize desire, yes. But look about you, Sister. It only serves conflict. It serves War. It serves Me. Like you just served Me."

"You served Me, Brother. You pleasured Me. You were a tool for Love. You are always a tool."

"Calling what we did Love is disingenuous, poor deluded Sister. We just fucked."

"It is still love, disgusting as it was."

"I used you. You served Me. War rules the world!"

"Only because of the dark desires in men's hearts."

"It is the act of war that triumphs and rules men!"

"Oh, really? Did the Princess of the Amazons not triumph over you through her loving heart?"

The instant of silence was a violence in itself.

"The Amazon did open my eyes, Sister, to the need for constant, perpetuating strife instead of a fruitless, single final conflict, yet she dared to face me because of her warrior's heart! Ultimately, she, too, serves War -serves Me!"

"Please! My Sisters and I created the Amazons and their Princess! We endowed them! They serve us! They serve ME! Their Diana serves LOVE!"

The eyes of Ares shone with blood-red light.

"Care to wager?"

SECOND PROLOGUE: THE REWARD

Perennial clouds ringed the island, but directly above Themyscira the sky was clear and undisturbed, unlike the mind of the young woman strolling through the level, grass-covered field of the Amazon competition grounds.

Diana, Princess of the Amazons, brushed a curling lock of lustrous black hair off her face, and looked about. Less than a year ago, at this very field, she had faced her sister amazons in athletic and martial competition. Winning the Contest against her mother's openly stated wishes, she had earned the title of Champion and the role of Envoy to Patriarch's World, so dressed in the colors and emblems of her destination, she could leave behind the centuries-old seclusion of Themyscira, to face the larger world beyond.

She had fulfilled her original task, and saved the world from the destruction planned by the God of War, but had she really been ready to know the World of Man, to live among its people? She had learned of the wonders and horrors of the so-called "modern world", where everything nominally good or evil had grown to scales far beyond what the Amazons could have ever imagined. Despite meeting new friends and allies, she had seen much that made her fear for the future, not at the whims of Lord Ares, but rather at the hands of man himself.

It was all so baffling, so contradictory. So much beauty and horror alike.

But her disillusion was also personal. For a moment, she thought she had discovered what love was, the love of tales and poetry, but though she did experience the physical aspect of the union of male and female, Aphrodite's true blessing had proved elusive, and her soul ached at her failures.

Was it her fault? She did what she had judged to be right, trying to make the best of difficult situations. But which had been the costs?

She tried to banish from her mind the bittersweet image of the handsome, noble hero the world called Superman, to forget his face full of shock and rejection. But it refused to leave her, just like the memory of the touch of the dark god of Apokolips still lingered in her, its disturbing echoes deeply reverberating in her very flesh, despite all her determination to overcome such weakness.

She wondered if it would have been better to never experience such sensations, never know the touch of a man, the bodily pleasure of the union of male and female, the inner joy of anticipation, and the heartbreak that came afterwards.

She wondered if she should tell her friends.

She wondered if she could tell her mother.

Suddenly, clouds gathered in the sky, and became filled with golden light. A voice thundered, everywhere and nowhere at once.

"DIANA. PRINCESS OF THE AMAZONS. MOST BEAUTIFUL OF ALL EARTHLY WOMEN. COME! THY HIGHEST MASTER SUMMONS YOU."

It was the voice of Zeus, Lord of Olympus, King and Father of the Gods.

* * *

From the terrace of the royal palace, Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, saw the sudden light, heard the echoing voice, and blanched.

* * *

"THOU HAST EARNED THE GRATITUDE OF OLYMPUS, COMELY CHILD."

The presence of the Olympian was dazzling in its sheer majesty and splendor, with golden light radiating in all directions from his taller-than-human figure. Zeus's robe was white, like his hair and beard, the white of fire at its hottest, the white of lightning.

Yet Diana found it less impressive than she might have a year ago. In her mind, she compared this display of godly power with the simple modesty of Kal-El, who embraced his adopted humanity, and with the dour, controlled puissance of Darkseid, whose power was even more fearsome all for not being openly flaunted. Somehow, though it felt like heresy, Zeus and his extravagance suffered in comparison.

"My Lord-?"

"THY LORD ZEUS GRANTS THEE THE BOON OF HIS ATTENTION. COME CHILD, AND WORSHIP ME!"

* * *

Driving her horse mercilessly, Hippolyta raced towards the Competition Fields.

* * *

"WORSHIP THY LORD!"

The robes vanished and Zeus stood unclothed before her.

Diana let one eyebrow rise slightly. Again, comparison was not flattering for the Olympian.

* * *

Hyppolita's stomach clenched at the sight. Her horse panicked and threw her.

Cursing in gutter Themysciran, the Amazon Queen stood. Her curses then turned to desperate pleas of succor from the patron goddesses of the Amazons, as she charged towards her daughter and the Lord of Olympus.

* * *

"BLESSED ARE THEE AMONG ALL AMAZONS!"

"You mean I-?"

"THY COURAGE AND BEAUTY DOTH EARN THEE THE GREATEST HONOR OF ALL!"

She looked away, embarrassed. Greatest? It did not look like that big an honor, she dared to think.

"REJOICE NOW IN THE BOON BESTOWED UPON THEE!"

"My Lord Zeus, I am not sure I deserve-"

"THY MODESTY IS MISPLACED. THOU ART MORE THAN FITTING FOR A GOD'S ATTENTION, LOVELY CHILD!"

"I am-?"

"THOU CAN START ENJOYING MY GENEROSITY!"

"But-?"

Zeus frowned. "BUT?"

Diana looked down, baffled and unsettled. She had read about situations like this, supposedly fairly typical back in the ancient times, when the gods frequently claimed lovers among mortals, most often disguising themselves as beasts first. Yet she had never expected it to ever happen to her. Though she should probably feel flattered, it was now not just embarrassing, but also, somehow disappointing. It felt devoid of the gravity she had imagined during her readings. It felt prosaic.

"Are you not supposed to be... ah, in some other... semblance?"

"UH?"

She blushed deeply. "I mean, was not that the... uh, traditional way?"

"Traditional way?"

"In the form of a beast, or-?"

"THOU WOULDST RATHER ZEUS RESEMBLED AN ANIMAL?"

Her ears were hot with embarrassment. "Well, like with Europa, or Leda-"

"LEDA? THOU WOULDST ZEUS WAS IN SWAM SHAPE? REALLY?" Zeus was actually surprised. He had forgotten how kinky the mortals could be.

"Uh, not really. It is just that..." She realized she was struggling for any way out. "My Lord, this is just so sudden!"

"A BULL, THEN?"

"No, no!" Diana waved her hands in confusion, though a part of her wondered if it would not be an improvement. "I just do not... I cannot accept something like this-"

"THOU NEEDS NOT ACCEPT IT."

"What?"

"LORD ZEUS!" Hippolyta's voice rang out loud and clear, without any hint of fear, as she joined her daughter, to address the supreme deity of the pantheon her people worshipped. "SPARE MY DAUGHTER!"

"Mother?"

Zeus frowned ominously. "WHAT?"

Diana's voice rose as well, turning back to see Zeus. "Excuse me, Lord Zeus, what did you mean by saying that I do not need to accept it?"

"SPARE MY DAUGHTER, LORD ZEUS! SHE IS BUT A CHILD!"

"SPARE HER? I WAS NOT GOING TO HARM HER!"

"Did you mean I have no choice? Really?"

Zeus turned back to Diana. "INSOLENT CHILD, IS THAT HOW THOU WOULD ADDRESS THY LORD?"

Hyppolita's fists were clenched and her eyes shone with barely controlled emotions. "SPARE MY YOUNG DAUGHTER! DEAL WITH ME INSTEAD!"

"THEE?" Zeus frowned. The Amazon Queen was a comely woman, but not quite like her flawless young daughter. "WELL, MAYBE LATER..."

"Mother, please. I can handle this."

"DIANA HAS SERVED OLYMPUS BRAVELY! SHE DESERVES BETTER!"

"BETTER? BETTER?" Lighting suddenly coursed the skies. "THERE IS NO BETTER!"

"I meant-"

"THY LORD'S ATTENTION IS A BLESSING! SHE SHOULD BE HONORED-!"

Hippolyta's reply was full of furious bitterness, the shadows of past betrayal souring her soul. "Like your son Herakles HONORED ME?"

"THOU WOULDST DARE-?"

Diana stepped forward, standing before her mother, and bowing her head formally to speak. "My Lord Zeus, let me express my deepest gratitude for your great generosity, but I must respectfully decline accepting such offer."

"WHAT?" The god's voice became one with the thunder. "THOU DECLINE?"

"My Lord, yes."

"DECLINE?"

"Yes."

THIRD PROLOGUE: THE GESTURE

"ARE YOU MAD?"

"SILENCE, WIFE!"

"HOW-HOW DARE YOU?"

"I RULE OLYMPUS, HERA! DO NOT FORGET THAT!"

"YOU PATHETIC DIRTY OLD MAN! YOU STILL RULE HERE ONLY THANKS TO THIS AMAZON'S EFFORTS!"

Before the assembled Olympians, Diana of Themyscira was held immobile and unconscious inside the nimbus of shifting energies that had brought her to Olympus. Gathered in gravity-defying positions, half a dozen goddesses surrounded the Amazon, shielding her from the wrath of Zeus.

"SILENCE, I SAID!"

"WITHOUT HER, ARES WOULD HAVE DOOMED US ALL!"

"Please, don't be so dramatic," the God of War said with a faint smile, in a nearby terrace. "It was just a small... experiment."

"AND THE DARK GOD OF APOKOLIPS WOULD HAVE DESTROYED OLYMPUS! SHE SAVED OUR HOME!"

Lightning flashed all around Zeus. "DOES THAT GIVE HER THE RIGHT TO SPIT ON ME?"

"WHAT, JUST BECAUSE SHE WOULD NOT BE YOUR WHORE?"

"STOP WITH YOUR JEALOUSY!"

"MY JEALOUSY? WHAT ABOUT YOUR IDIOCY?"

"Father." Athena, goddess of wisdom, strode forward, dressed in robes and armor, or maybe the brisk suit of a modern Earthly executive. "Please reconsider."

"RECONSIDER WHAT? TO ALLOW THEM TO INSULT ME? ALLOW HER TO-?"

"Who began the insults?" Artemis, the Huntress goddess, laughed bitterly. "You thought Themyscira could become your brothel!"

"IT WAS AN HONOR I-!"

"Honor? What a crock of shit!"

"Father, please." Solemnly, Athena gestured towards the other goddesses. "You know the Amazons are under our protection. They have always been."

"WOULD YOU TOO DEFY ME?"

"Anger may not be the best strategy. The Amazons have not only served us through Diana's recent efforts. Their continued worship has been our strongest remaining link to the mortal plane. Would you forfeit that?"

"WHAT USE IS THEIR WORSHIP IF THEY WILL NOT SERVE ME AS I DEMAND?"

"Serve? As your concubines?" Artemis spat on the floor. "They may be better off dead."

Zeus stood up from his throne. "FINE BY ME!"

Hera clenched her fists. "I WILL NOT ALLOW IT!"

"HADES TAKE YOU ALL! THEY MUST PAY FOR THIS INSULT!"

"Oh, Lord Zeus, I beg you," fleet-footed Hermes began, bowing elaborately. "Is one girl, gloriously beautiful as she may be, worth all this contention?"

"SHE SPURNED ME!"

"Your glorious proposal probably just overwhelmed the poor child. She was likely not ready for such an honor."

"STOP KISSING MY ASS!"

"They are just human. We must be lenient with them."

"LENIENT, MY ASS!"

Athena moved daringly before the enraged god, and her voice was soft but sharp as unsheathed steel.

"Surely the self-esteem of all-powerful Zeus is not so fragile as to be so wounded by a child's mistake?"

"IT IS NOT THAT! IT IS THE GESTURE! IT-!"

"Then should your response not be also a gesture?"

"A GESTURE? HER DEATH SHOULD BE GESTURE ENOUGH!"

"No. A lesson. One she may benefit from."

"A lesson?" Zeus leaned back in his throne, frowning. "Maybe... Yes, something to teach her, and them, their rightful place."

Artemis gritted her teeth. "Their rightful place?"

Unexpectedly, Ares spoke, and even Zeus grew silent. "Perhaps the Amazons are worth more than being just... that kind of servant."

Artemis laughed. "Fuck. FUCK! The end must be near! Ares agrees with us!"

"A test," Ares continued. "Let our gesture be a test. Of the Princess Diana, and of all her people. If these Amazons believe they can determine their own destiny, let them prove it."

"Prove it?" Artemis faced the God of War, hunter's eyes full of indignation. "She made YOU change your mind, remember? And saved Olympus from the invasion of the Dark God of Apokolips ! What further proof do you want?"

"The weapon must be honed, Sister, lest it turn dull. You should know that."

"FUCK YOU!"

"It could be fun," a sultry voice added.

All eyes but those of Ares turned towards Aphrodite as she approached Zeus. The Ruler of Olympus stared at her deep cleavage, only partially concealed by her flowing brunette tresses, while she whispered softly in his ear.

After several smiling whispers, Aphrodite finally withdrew, smiling, secretive, as love often is. And Zeus laughed.

"I like that. I LIKE THAT!"

FOURTH PROLOGUE: THE CHALLENGE OF THE GODS

"DIANA OF THEMYSCIRA!"

Down on one knee, surrounded by dense, opaque mists revealing only the towering outlines of the Olympian Pantheon, still Diana, Princess of the Amazons, kept her head unbowed, as Zeus rendered judgment upon her.

"THOU HAST DARED TO CHALLENGE THE WILL OF OLYMPUS!"

She bit her lip, fighting the impulse to speak up.

"ONLY THY PAST SERVICES SAVED THY LIFE!"

"Gratitude's a bitch," Hermes muttered, and Diana smiled, recognizing his voice.

"BUT NOW, THE GODS WILL CHALLENGE THEE IN RETURN!"

Diana nodded. She knew she would have to make amends of some kind.

"AND THE LIVES OF ALL THY PEOPLE WILL DEPEND ON THY FULFILLING THE CHALLENGE!"

"The lives-?" Diana stood, her fists clenched. "Why would-?"

Zeus pointed a finger at her. "HEAR THY CHALLENGE, AMAZON. LIKE HERAKLES, MY SON, ONCE DID, TWELVE MIGHTY LABOURS MUST BE PERFORMED, LABOURS THAT SHALL TASK THY POWER AND SKILL, TO PROVE THEE AND ALL THY PEOPLE WORTHY!"

"Twelve labours?"

Ares stepped forward, bearing in his armored hand a circular amulet, one handspan-wide, inscribed deeply with ancient designs. "Recognize this, Amazon?"

Diana's eyebrows arched up. "Harmonia's Talisman!" It was the mystical object that had guided her to Patriarch's World, in order to stop Ares' plan of initiating a final war that would unleash man's atomic weapons.

Ares smiled under his dark helm, and the Talisman suddenly shattered into fragments, all which sped away from each other, at right angles to every dimension known to man, racing far beyond sight and reality, but for a single piece that remained in the palm of the god's gauntlet.

"You must now rejoin the trinket, my dear." Causally, he tossed that single remnant at the Amazon, who caught it.

Zeus spread his arms, calling for attention. "AMAZON! THOU MUST PASS THROUGH DOOM'S DOORWAY INTO THE NETHERWORLDS OF TARTARUS, TO SEARCH THRU ITS SHADOW REALMS FOR THE TWELVE SCATTERED PIECES OF THE SHATTERED TALISMAN! ONLY ONCE IT IS WHOLE AGAIN WILL THY CHALLENGE BE OVER, AND THEE AND THY KIND BE DEEMED WORTHY! BUT EACH FRAGMENT SHALL BE WELL GUARDED, AND THOU MUST FACE EACH GUARDIAN IN CONTEST OF MIND AND BODY!"

"Anointed-?"

"OLYMPUS HAS SPOKEN!"


	2. First Labour: The Leonine Riddle

Diana stood ready.

The massive, heavily-reinforced door sealed a cavernous opening at the  
barren, rocky mountain face. Doom's Doorway led not just into the  
darkness under the Earth, but also into the realms of ancient mortal  
fears and primal imagination.

It led into Tartarus.

Righteous outrage, grim frustration and deep concern fought for  
predominance in the gathered Amazon Nation, formally assembled to  
honor their Princess and Champion. But nowhere was the struggle as  
painful as in the soul of Queen Hyppolita, as she saw her only  
daughter, the only daughter of all Themyscira, stoically preparing to  
enter the almost-certain death of the fearsome gateway.

"You don't have to do this." Hyppolita's voice was hoarse, and her  
eyes red, underscored by the darkness of vigil.

Diana tossed her hair to a side, and swung the bundle of supplies over  
a shoulder, next to the battle-axe on her back. "Yes. I do, mother.  
I do. And I will."

"Diana..."

"Wish me strength, Mother. And wisdom."

"All those you already have in plenty."

Diana smiled with gratitude, and walked into darkness. 

* * *

"It has begun." Athena's voice was serene, but with an underlaying  
edge of anger, the anger of rational thought against foolishness.

The Mists of Gaea rose from the glowing brazier; shifting vapors  
framed the image of the Amazon Princess as she ventured through the  
damp depths of the Earth. Her sable-black hair blended with the  
encroaching darkness; her face and armored figure were faintly lighted  
only by the glow of the magic lasso.

"Can't make out shit," Zeus grumbled. "Couldn't she light a torch or  
something?"

"And risk depleting a possibly limited supply of air? The Amazon knows better."

"Well, I want to see what happens, Me-damn it."

"You just want to check her out as she walks," Hera spat. "Don't bullshit us."

Zeus played deaf, the usual tactic to deal with an annoying partner,  
and squinted at the gloomy image. There should be a way to  
fast-forward to the good bits. 

* * *

Diana held the lasso loosely in her extended right hand, its golden  
luminescence barely making out the path before her. Climbing over a  
craggy mound, she steadied her advance on the tunnel's side, and her  
touch found long, deep gouges in the coarse rock wall, raked by claws  
unlike any born of natural earth.

She wondered what kind of creature had left such marks. Many were the  
nameless horrors imprisoned beyond Doom's Doorway; preventing their  
escape had been the penance and bane of the Amazons for centuries, a  
penance late-born Diana had not shared, shielded by her mother, by the  
privilege of royal authority, a privilege that had been a burden for  
the young Diana, and reason for many a conflict between mother and  
daughter. Perhaps now, by willingly walking into the storeroom of  
horrors that connected to the netherworlds of Tartarus itself, was  
Diana finally paying her dues.

Yet no matter what further dangers Diana faced, she carried now an  
added burden. Her quest sought to placate the anger of Zeus, the Lord  
of Olympus himself, an anger that she had brought down on her sisters.  
No matter what feats she may accomplish, she was responsible for  
endangering her people at all. Who knew what fearsome revenge could  
the Olympian rain upon Themyscira in his wrath? All because of her.  
Because of her denial. Because she had turned down the Olympian's  
favors.

The softly echoing sounds of her footsteps were lost as she stepped  
into a larger space, its extent lost in ink-like blackness. There  
were a series of rough, chalk-white slabs spiraling down into the  
dark, and she carefully followed the path, descending, while guilt and  
anger fought inside her.

She had done what felt correct. She had followed her heart, and been  
honest to herself. Feeling no desire, no interest in accepting the  
god's offer, she had declined. But such choice had brought danger  
upon Themyscira. Had she the right to take such a stance? She wanted  
to think so. She wanted to believe that the fight for what was right  
started in the most basic choices of one's self. That the rights of  
the many were built upon the rights of the one.

But while she sought solace in ethical principles, doubts lingered.  
What she had denied Zeus, she had already given willingly, and under  
far more distasteful circumstances, to none other than Darkseid, the  
cruel Lord of Apokolips. How could she justify spurning the advances  
of the highest of her gods, the patrons of her people, after having  
agreed to carnal congress with a monstrous despot who had threatened  
both Earth and Olympus? Could she still consider herself virtuous?

Perhaps it was the paternal role of Zeus amongst the Olympians,  
something she had taken for granted since childhood, which made her  
considering him sexually discomforting, even intrinsically wrong,  
asides the simple lack of the simple physical attraction which she had  
felt for Superman and Darkseid alike.

Or maybe she had just chaffed at the Olympian's imposable attitude,  
at his evident disregard for her volition. Even Darkseid had  
respected her right to choose.

But did any of these justify endangering the lives of her people?

It was now her responsibility to save what she had imperiled. She  
could not afford to fail.

Suddenly, the blackness about the Amazon Princess came alive, reshaped  
into a thousand limbs, all reaching for her, grasping feverishly with  
twitching fingers, hungry for flesh, hungry for life. 

* * *

Zeus smiled. The good bits, at last. 

* * *

She was smothered by a myriad hands, grasping, clenching, kneading,  
seeking to bind her, ravage her. Her strikes cleaved and parted the  
mass of limbs, yet it reformed around the gap without pause. It was like seeking to fight the sea.

She grimaced, fighting for breath, squeezed and groped by countless  
grips, and knew that she had to change tactics.

With a cry of defiance, Diana brought her war-axe down against the  
bony slab on which she stood, one of the many making up the eerie  
stairway. Ax and step shattered as did all of the floating stairway.  
With a scream of agony echoing through impossible dimensions, the  
Amazon's attacker fell into the void, the shifting multiple limbs  
carried down inexorably along its shattered backbone. 

* * *

Diana floated in the dark, slowing her breathing, trying to discern  
orientation in the field of absolute blackness, past the limited glow  
of the lasso. After a moment of fleeting panic, she stopped trying to  
see. Only then did she feel the pull, the minute tug of the amulet's  
fragment. She took it from her belt, and confirmed her suspicion.  
The amulet sought to be whole. Its fragments called to each other, if  
only she would listen.

With little other choice available, she flew, trusting the subtle  
summons. An indeterminate stretch of time later, she lighted upon a  
rocky shelf faintly outlined by a distant reddish glow. The weak  
light came from a shaft high above in the cavern's roof, dancing and  
flickering like distant fire, that began to define the surrounding  
landscape of twisting and overlapping rocky formations, resembling the  
dense, craggy roots of a monstrous tree.

"Ah, so you are the one who slew Cottus." The deep, musical voice  
surprised her. "Well done. Disgusting creatures, those  
Hecantoncheires, like most cthonics. Can only improve the  
neighborhood."

His dialect was strange but understandable, with a musical rhythm,  
his voice like soft leather and rumbling water. She followed the  
resonant words, leaping to a wide basalt platform. Two other great  
rock plates rested at inclined angles, creating a shadowed alcove over  
her interlocutor.

"I am Diana of Themyscira," she stated. "Please show yourself."

"You are showing yourself a bit too much, Diana of Themyscira."

She noticed her golden-plated bustier had been tugged partially down  
during the previous attack, exposing more of her tightly packed  
breasts than normal, so she pulled it back into place with mild  
annoyance. "Thank you. Please excuse if-"

"You misunderstand. There was absolutely no complain on that regard.  
But the glowing line in your hand may be too gaudy a price to bandy  
about in a place like this."

A screech suddenly sounded in the distance, and many more followed.

"Oh, well. I did try to warn you." 

* * *

There was a multitude of them, black furry bodies masking their  
numbers in the gloom of the cavernous space as they came at her, all  
grasping hands and cacophonous yells. Their sizes ranged from that of  
a normal man to roughly its half, their faces were canine featured and  
their ears pointed. The collective stench was almost overpowering.

Diana flew up, to avoid the assault of the swarming goblin-like  
creatures. But flight was no escape, as they had crawled,  
insect-like, onto the ceiling of the cavern, and dropped in thick  
numbers at her from above, so she was dragged down by the sheer mass  
of bodies. It was like being in the grasp of Cottus again, but  
without a single consciousness to oppose. Many groped and scratched  
at her limbs and clothes, but their main target seemed the glowing  
lasso. She seized two of the creatures and spun them about her as  
clubs, throwing away her attackers by the dozens, but more and more  
came, and she feared unleashing her full strength, which could easily  
kill the individuals closest to her. How could she fight such numbers  
without committing wholesale slaughter?

Suddenly, a thunderous blast of sound filled the enclosed space, a  
fearsome trumpet-like roar that made Diana wince and cover her ears.  
She sensed a large creature fly about her, huge wings displacing air  
noticeably, scattering Diana's attackers with its presence and  
overpowering voice.

As quickly as they had appeared, the repellent creatures vanished, and  
Diana landed back before the rocky alcove, in time to see the outline  
of the imposing winged creature settle again in its refuge.

"Thank you," she said, wincing. Her ears ached with each echo. "Were  
they... Kallikantzaroi?"

"Yes," the powerful voice replied in a low grumble. "They saw in  
futility at the roots of the World Tree, here in the darkness  
underground. But they are always greedy for gifts of beauty and joy.  
Both you and your lasso qualified. Yet they also fear my wrath, as  
well they should."

She nodded, curiosity filling her. The musical accent seemed middle  
eastern in origin. "May I come closer?"

"You may, comely lass. You are looking for something, and I can give  
it to you."

Diana walked forward. "You know where I can find the amulet fragment?"

In the reddish glow she could see the man-like face nod, framed in a  
thick mane of flowing hair that also enveloped the wide, powerful  
shoulders of a lion-like upper body, shadowed by the folded wings on  
its back.

Could it be a sphynx? Its accent did not seem Egyptian, but her ears  
were still ringing from the powerful roar. "May you give it to me?"

"Only if you reply properly to my own inquiry."

Diana nodded. Sphynxs were notorious for asking riddles, and proved  
deadly towards those who failed to solve them. This had to be the  
guardian Zeus had referenced.

"Ask me, then, if you would."

The creature nodded again, a low growl in his throat resembling the  
beginning of laughter, if rock slides could laugh. Then it spoke:

"What is the charm  
That can vanquish sleep  
That brings no harm  
Yet may make hearts weep?

What is the gift  
That may seal a soul's vow  
That may heaviness lift  
And in committed heat grow?

Reply be told  
With skill and poise  
With act bold  
But not of voice."

Diana frowned. The riddle was far too simple. Too obvious. Was  
there misdirection involved?

No voice. Was that was the only catch, to reply without speaking?  
Diana balked for an instant at what it implied.

The creature had been helpful. Its manners were polite, and its voice  
gentle and soothing. Too soothing.

Cautiously, Diana strode forward, until she stood at arm's length  
before the creature. The mane-framed head rose from the thick arms  
folded in crouching position, and her face was level with it. Golden  
eyes under bushy red brows regarded her with what appeared like amused  
curiosity. Uneasy, but bound by her stated agreement to play the  
riddle, Diana leaned forward and her lips approached the creature's  
cheek. A deep rumble echoed in its mighty throat, like contemptuous  
laughter, and she hesitated. Not daring to risk her answer be deemed  
incorrect on a technicality, she winced, and touched her lips instead  
to the creature's mouth, for a light, quick kiss.

She quickly drew back, and the golden eyes followed her with a  
piercing stare. "You think such a half-hearted reply will earn you  
the prize? I question your commitment."

Diana frowned again, tensing at the demand. "You are taking advantage."

It chuckled with deep resonances. "Of course."

Diana breathed in deeply, and lunged forward, grabbing the thick mane  
of red hair with both hands and pulling the head towards her, towards  
her open mouth. He wanted a strong answer, she would give it. Her  
lips mashed against his, urgently, impatiently, and when his long  
tongue darted forward, she met it with her own. She tightened her  
grip on the thick, silken hair as their tongues wrestled, and a  
powerful iron-like taste filled her mouth. Sharp-clawed fingers  
lightly brushed against her right leg, sliding along the back of her  
thigh. When the oversized hand daringly encompassed her left buttock,  
she bit roughly on the creature's lower lip and pushed herself away.

"THAT is another question altogether," she said. "And its answer is 'no'."

The golden stare met hers. "Your lips and tongue seemed to be making  
other inquiries and demands."

"I just gave the riddle's answer. Was I not clear and loud enough?"

"You are a fierce kisser, amazon. Are you just as energetic in-?"

"You will hardly find out."

The creature extended its right hand, and a small piece of broken  
ceramic glowed in its palm. "You solved the riddle. The prize is  
yours to take." Casually, it threw the amulet piece off to a side,  
and Diana's eyes automatically followed it. "And so is mine."

She had been on guard, prepared for violence, yet he was almost too  
fast. Launched by powerful hindlegs, the creature pounced in a fluid  
motion, oversized hands seizing hers. But instead of struggling she  
let him drive her back, rolling backwards with the momentum, and  
reversed the grips as she thrust her feet forwards and up. Thrown in  
a tight arch, the sphynx's body dislodged the massive rocks that  
formed the alcove, and they crashed around them as the creature was  
slammed to the rocky surface behind. She completed the backward roll  
to straddle her attacker, still controlling one of his arms and about  
to punch his face.

Suddenly pain flared in her back, and she instantly rolled forward and  
away. Jumping to her feet she scanned the gloomy environs for a  
possible second enemy who may have attacked from a distance. Arrow?  
Dart? Whatever had struck her left a sharp burning in its wake, but  
she was not bleeding. She had not been run through, nor punctured  
deep enough to harm internal organs. But how had she failed to  
sense-?

Laughter resonated all around like a blaring trumpet, and she saw the  
unfolding of the vast, feathers-less wings made of red leathery skin,  
above which an appendage of hard-shelled segments coiled tall and

ominous, its bulbous end hooking into a sharp, vicious point.

Scorpion tail. Dragon-like wings. It was not a sphynx.

The accent. Persian, she realized at last, and recalled the strange  
sensation of multiple rows of teeth inside its mouth as she kissed it.

"Manticore," she muttered, cursing herself for a fool, just before  
her limbs grew completely limp and she collapsed to the ground.

Laughter surrounded her. 

* * *

She could not move.

She was awake, and fully aware of the manticore looming over her, of  
his cruel eyes and mocking smile, of his breath on her face. But she  
could not move. She lay face up on the rocky shelf, paralyzed by the  
manticore's venomous sting, helpless like a puppet with cut strings.  
Her chest rose and fell with her breathing, but her body was a machine  
running on automatic functions, deaf to the orders of her desperate  
consciousness, a living, yet detached shell housing her, an impassive,  
indifferent prison for herself.

"The trinket is right there for you to take, amazon. If you could, of course."

Unmoving, her eyes stared up, met by the manticore's golden stare.

"You are beautiful indeed." His eyes moved down to her bosom. "Far  
more than what I was told."

His claws tore through her bustier, rending the metal-reinforced  
fabric with ease, and the freed breasts spread gently to each side of  
her torso.

"Teats worthy of a goddess. I wonder if all amazons of your tribe are  
as generously endowed."

It drew back slightly, and the scorpion tail arched forward, its  
stinger reaching the valley between her breasts. Slowly it drifted  
down, over her midsection, past her loins, and along the bared length  
of a leg, brushing the expanse of soft skin, and stopping at the top  
of the red and white boot. It then moved to the same place at the  
other leg and slid up, retracing its path until reaching the union of  
thighs and body. The sharp tip scratched the star-patterned fabric  
over her mound, before pressing in and puncturing the cloth, grazing  
the softness underneath. It then drew upwards, tearing through cloth  
and metal as it ran from her mound up to her torn bustier. It then  
flicked the split remains of her attire to each slide, and then moved  
down again, retracing its passage over her now fully exposed body,  
gently grazing the silken skin with its sharp tip as it moved from the  
swell of her breasts, over the tautness of her abdomen, amidst the  
soft dark curls on her mound, and curving over it to brush on her  
perineum, the tender divide between vulva and anus.

"No, such perfect body must be one of a kind."

The stinger moved back to her chest, tracing around one breast a  
curved path that spiraled into smaller radius, slowly moving in a  
decreasing concentric fashion, until it settled into a repeated motion  
around the raised aureole crowned by its rosy nipple.

"Will almost be a shame to devour such luscious flesh."

The mouth spread in an impossible wide grin, wicked rows of teeth  
gleaming in the reddish glow coming from above.

"Almost."

The stinger then moved to her other breast, repeating its motions,  
culminating in the slow circumvolutions of her aureole.

"But I will enjoy tasting it every way, thoroughly."

He pounced down, opening his mouth, and the triple row of teeth seized  
her delicate flesh, nibbling on the slightly hardened nipple and the  
soft tissue around it. Meanwhile, the stinger moved to brush in long  
strokes over her legs, against the inside of her thighs.

Diana felt everything, every motion of the ominous stinger on her  
body, the scratching of its sharp point, on her skin, the rough biting  
and tugging on her nipples and breasts by the triple rows of teeth.  
She had not been deprived of sensation, just of conscious motion, of  
the ability to react as she should, to defend herself.

Making it worse, detached from judgment, from volition, her body  
reacted on its own, instinctively, to the touching, the biting, the  
licking. She felt her nipples grow and harden, she felt her skin grow  
goosebumps when the stinger ran along her inner thigh and scraped  
lightly along the instep her

She tried to scream in anger and frustration but her mouth was not  
hers to command.

The clenched teeth pulled roughly on a nipple, tugging the breast up,  
and then released it, making her whole bosom bounce and jostle.

The manticore chuckled at the hardness of her saliva-covered nipples.  
"You are enjoying it, I see."

Diana's curses could not reach her lips.

"You will enjoy this even more." Moving down, the creature grabbed  
her legs, and spread them before his face. "Humans called me The  
Man-Eater, but I prefer to eat women. Tasty women like you."

The wide, leering mouth dove hungrily at her exposed crotch. 

* * *

She hated it. Hated her helplessness, her impotence. Hated the  
abusive manhandling of her body by such a despicable beast. Hated  
every lick and bite, every probe and tug. Hated every sensations  
drawn from her unknowing flesh. Hated the growing responses of her  
body, reacting beyond her control to plain physical stimuli. Hated  
the growing instinctive animal pleasure that arose from the continuous, unwanted caresses.

Pain would have been better. She could have dealt with pain. But  
pleasure at the hands and mouth of this awful monster was worse than  
torture.

How could this horrible beast inflame her so much?

And he was far from finished. 

* * *

"Your taste is unique. So sweet, and tangy, and rich. I could lap  
your juices endlessly."

She head a tongue noisily slap against bared fangs and palate.

"But there is so much more to enjoy. So much."

A thick clawed finger pressed against her sex, forcing its entry past  
her sodden folds, but just barely. "So tight! How can you be so  
tight? You are drenched wet already!" The finger pushed forward more  
forcefully, but barely gained a fraction of an inch. "You cannot be  
resisting. You will be paralyzed for hours. Can you be so tight  
always?"

The manticore drew back and grabbed one breast with his oversized  
hand, squeezing and kneading the firm, yet yielding flesh. "Perhaps  
your body needs more... convincing."

She felt his stinger brush past her pubic hair, and the sharp tip  
inched between the moist labia, parting the folds gently, yet  
insistently, again and again, until it brushed  
against the growing presence of the tender nub nestled within. The  
stinger began to move about the swelling clitoris, gazing its  
sensitive bulge repeatedly, drawing it forth from its hooded abode. 

* * *

She had to fight it. Put her mind elsewhere. Ignore the rising  
excitement, the escalating sense of need, just as she ignored the  
progressive humiliation, the growing dread of being used against her  
will by this hateful thing and the maddening frustration of being  
unable to stop it. She had to find a way to escape. Escape her  
ordeal. Escape the threat of rape and murder. Escape the betrayal of  
her own body. 

* * *

The sharp point began to nudge the swollen bud with quick pokes and  
flicks, until the spread thighs trembled noticeably with tension, and  
wetness pooled abundantly between them. Only then did the stinger  
press lower, sliding over the parted labia, grazing the sensitive  
perineum, and touching softly the puckered anus, before moving back  
to her vaginal entrance. Firmly, the sharp, pointed tip slid past her  
gate, and entered the amazon princess, slowly moving deeper and  
deeper, until the curved spike was all inside and the head-sized  
globular bulge from which it grew pressed tight against her mound. 

* * *

There was pain as it entered her, the sharp point scraping the overly  
sensitive inner flesh. She tried to embrace the pain, use it against  
the rising feelings of feverish need, but it just made her more aware  
of the intensity of her body's excitement, made her more aware of the  
undeniable pleasure. 

* * *

"Maybe I should sting you right in there, see if that... relaxes you  
further." The stinger withdrew partly out, menacingly, before slowly  
sliding back in, the soft inner flesh parting reluctantly before its  
advance. It entered her again all the way in, and the base segment  
pressed forcefully against her vulva, budging and shifting, the hard  
chitinous shell covered with small blips and ridges rubbing against  
her labia and the now-protruding clitoris. 

* * *

It almost happened. The rising tension in her body suddenly raced  
towards a bursting point, the pleasure becoming impossible to ignore,  
impossible to escape, failing to crest that edge of no return by just  
the merest margin.

Her teeth bit her lower lip to hold back a gasp, and the fingers of  
her right hand clawed against the rocky ground. 

* * *

"You almost came. I could tell." The manticore laughed its loud,  
trumpeting blare. "You are probably desperate for it now."

The stinger pulled out, its curved spike shiny with dripping juices,  
and the manticore moved between her legs, spreading them wide apart to  
accommodate the massiveness of its body. Her hips were pulled off the  
ground, and a large, hot mass pressed against her sex.

"It would be too cruel of me to tease you further." 

* * *

She could not escape. She could not get away from what was happening.  
She should not.

She was an amazon.

She was not trained to run away from danger, from hardship. She was  
trained to face it. To endure and prevail. To match her opponent's  
strengths and use them against him. 

* * *

She had just turned twelve, a thin reed of a girl, tall for her age,  
yet willowy and delicate, so frail in appearance compared to the fit,  
athletic women all around her, compared to her mother, so beautiful  
and impressive. She had only adults to measure herself against. She  
was the only one so small and weak and undeveloped in the island. She  
was the only child in paradise. Yet the promise of the future  
strength to come was already in her bright blue eyes.

It had been a scary, solemn ceremony. She had prepared for it, but  
could not avoid feeling nervous when it came.

There were no lengthy speeches. She was asked her name, before her  
assembled sisters and mother, and asked to state her willingness to  
assume her role, to take her responsibility. As one of them.

As an amazon.

It was her rite of passage. It was her time.

She replied without losing nerve. Her voice did not break as she had feared.

Her mother smiled at her.

"These are the symbols of who we are, of what we are. They were our  
shame, but are now part of our strength. We use them for protection,  
and as reminders. They were forced upon us by our enemies, but we  
overcame, and triumphed. Now they remind us of what we lived and  
endured, and what we have to protect. No matter what power is used  
against us, we will not be defeated. We will adapt and prevail. We  
will turn the tools of our enemies against them, turn them into our  
strengths. That is the Amazon Way."

Bright and newly forged, the gleaming bracelets were clasped to her  
wrists. They fit loosely, but she would grow into them.

As an amazon.

* * *

It hurt, but she welcomed the pain, relished it. And she knew that it  
was not enough.

She had to accept both the pain and the pleasure that followed. She  
had to embrace the waves of sensation emerging from her loins and  
running through her body, focusing on how they made her muscles tense  
and tremble, on how they made her body move instinctively in response.  
How they made her body move. 

* * *

"DAMN! YOU ARE BETTER THAN ANYTHING I'VE EVER HAD! YOU ARE BETTER  
THAN A GODDESS!" 

* * *

Pain and pleasure raced like molten lava through her body, and she  
took it all in, letting the power of her anger and disgust lift her  
awareness even higher, welcoming how the intense sensorial assault  
shocked her senses, how it awakened her most primal physical  
reactions, as her mind sought to focus on the source, the relentless  
piercing at her core where it all erupted from. 

* * *

The manticore's growls and grunts rose noisily, wings flapping with  
wild abandon as the leonine hindquarters drove powerfully forward,  
again and again. 

* * *

Her muscles clenched and relaxed in reflexive echo to each thrust,  
matching the rhythm of the creature's motions, building to the  
imminent release. 

* * *

Huge reptilian wings spread wide, and the manticore thrust harder and  
deeper than ever. The whole powerful leonine body and the long  
scorpion tail tensed, and the mighty voice trumpeted with a wild,  
thunderous roar. 

* * *

The sudden last brutal thrust and consequent explosion of heat deep  
inside finally made the accumulated tension explode, and Diana's mind  
embraced her body's orgasm, welcoming how her muscles tensed and  
seized in climax, consciously spurring them to revel in their orgasmic  
contractions, to clench and tighten with all her might, there, at the  
very core of her. 

* * *

The manticore's roar of delight turned to shock and pain.

The scorpion tail flailed violently and the wings flapped with sudden  
desperation, taking the creature to the air, yet it remained trapped,  
seized at the most vulnerable point by a vice-like grip that grew  
tighter and tighter with each mighty contraction, making the whole  
universe contract to a single point of agony.

The manticore careened wildly through the enclosed airspace of the  
cavern, impacting against rocky walls again and again before falling  
back to crash face-up on the original ledge from where it started.  
Still not dislodged by the brutal impacts, Diana remained on top of  
him, loins against loins, legs wrapped tightly around the leonine  
lower body, her muscles still tensing rhythmically with the continued  
throes of her orgasm. Her fists were clenched, holding to the  
manticore's mane, and her eyes were focused, staring defiantly at her  
enemy's desperate face.

With a scream of anguish and fury, the scorpion tail coiled and struck  
with vicious power, releasing all its deadly venom in a single stroke.

This time Diana had been ready, and using every iota of her willpower,  
and every bit of the barely regained control over her body, she let  
both hands go limp and twisted her upper body aside.

The manticore screeched in agony, brutally pierced by its own stinger,  
the sharp barb embedded deeply in its chest, blood and fiery venom  
flowing from the wound. It bellowed and shook and thrashed wildly,  
until slowly, voice and body alike weakened more and more, until it  
grew still at last.

The manticore had lain motionless for a while before Diana finally  
rose from its body, her own tremors faded as well. With still shaky  
arms and legs, she forced herself to get up, lifting her hips away  
from the dead creature's loins, wincing as the still warm phallus  
flopped down, still monstrously large and rigid, despite the obvious  
signs of the crushing force that had acted upon it.

Still unsteady on her feet, Diana glanced for a moment at the  
manticore's unseeing golden eyes. While her anger remained unabated,  
a part of her also mourned the death of any living being, no matter  
how justified. Yet the creature had brought its own death upon  
itself, in every sense.

She stood still, and for a moment she thought tears would come to her,  
tears of anger and shame and frustration, at what she had experienced,  
at the horrible wrong that she had endured. But she did not cry.

She had no reason to feel shame or guilt. She had suffered a  
terrible, unwanted abuse, but she had endured, and triumphed. She had  
prevailed.

She turned, and looked for the amulet piece among the scattered  
debris. Soon she held it in her hand, a glowing piece of ceramic,  
broken and small. How high its cost had been.

Now she knew what her mother and the other amazons had experienced at  
the hands of Herakles and his men, those centuries past. She had  
known before, abstractly, but had not really understood. Not truly,  
not viscerally, not in her innermost self. Now she did. Now she  
really knew.

She knew, and understood.

She had learned, and grown stronger from it.

As an amazon.

(EPILOGUE)

Hera glowered as Zeus clumsily sought to again sit upright on the  
couch from which he had almost fallen, to the surprise of many of the  
assembled Olympians.

"You were there, weren't you, you dirty lecher?"

"I-I just grew dizzy! Had too much to drink! That is what being  
married to you drives me to!"

"You were riding the creature's mind. You hid there, as a pathetic  
stowaway! Just to have a chance at the amazon! How dare you-?"

"Nonsense!"

"Ha! And you got shocked shitless by the thing's death! Serves you  
right! A pity you got out-!"

"Please," Athena cut in. "Let us not lose sight of Diana's  
accomplishment. What matters is that she faced a most dangerous  
threat and won."

"At what cost? What we drove her to..." Artemis, goddess of the  
hunt, shook her head with disappointment. "Is that what we would wish  
upon our most valued daughter?"

Hera refused to be mollified. "That is why you wanted to choose the  
first trial! YOU DAMN PERVERT!"

"I HAD TOO MUCH TO DRINK!"

Ares shrugged. "She had to be tested. We agreed."

"Tested?" Artemis stood up, fists clenched in anger. "By forcing her  
to experience rape? To lose what remained of her innocence? Is that  
how we repay her trust in us?"

Aphrodite reclined on her couch, smiling. "Well, she was not that  
innocent. Didn't the dark god of Apokolips-?"

Zeus snorted from a corner. "Speak not of that upstart foreigner-!"

Athena placed a hand on Artemis' shoulder. "Perhaps there are things  
that she, more than any, should learn."

"Learn what? That rape sucks? That her gods suck? Big fucking  
surprise. Spare me your rationalizations."

Aphrodite stretched sensuously. "Maybe it wasn't that bad."

All goddessess turned towards her.

She shrugged. "At least it was a good lay. It's almost a shame that-"

"What?" Artemis stared horrified.

"At least the manticore gave her a real good orgasm."

"WHAT?" Artemis strode forward, incensed. "You think that makes it alright-?"

"She would not have been able to overcome the paralysis otherwise.  
That let her win. Is that mistaken, Athena?"

Athena replied icily: "Diana did what she had to do, trapped in... a  
lamentable situation."

Artemis stamped her booted foot down. "One to which we drove her! We  
set her up!"

"Would you rather she had been eaten alive without that chance to get free?"

"You are right in that regard, Sister." Ares smiled smugly. "The  
amazon won, by killing her rapist."

Aphrodite shook her head, turning towards Ares with a matching smile.  
"The manticore killed itself."

"It died. Death gave her victory."

"That was incidental. She won by embracing sex, instead of denying it."

"She did not chose to go that road willingly."

"She chose to let herself enjoy the sex."

Artemis shook her head in disbelief. "You think she enjoyed it?  
Enjoyed being raped by a murderous beast?"

"She came, didn't she?"

"She was paralyzed and unable to control her body's reactions-!"

"Happens to me all the time when it's really good. Not that anyone  
here would know about that."

Ares tapped the tips of each hand's fingers together. "Careful, Sister."

"Perhaps it was... distasteful-"

Artemis snorted. "Distasteful? DISTASTEFUL?"

"Diana learned the power that sex can give a woman. That was a  
good... learning experience."

"Learning experience?" Artemis pursed her lips. "Is that how you  
dismiss such an offense to our most faithful-?"

"Of course, what do you know about embracing sex, you... Maiden of  
the Hunt?" The last words were spelled with obvious disdain.

Artemis reddened. "There is sex, and there is rape. I though Love  
would know the difference. But I may overestimate you, slut-goddess."

Athena raised a hand. "Please, Sisters. No name calling."

"What other name suits her better?"

"You forget yourselves. You forget about Diana. We must focus on her now."

The goddesses grew silent at the hard edge in Athena's voice. They  
knew not to argue with Pallas Athena. She was not just the goddess of  
reason, she was also the clear-eyed counterpart to Ares, goddess of  
strategic conflict, of war as science. And Athena's clear grey eyes  
stared at her brother and sister with just a hint of a frown.


	3. Secound Labour: The Maiden Sacrifice

Green eyes sparkled like shifting moonlight over water. "It has been  
a while since we played such games with mankind."

Zeus smiled. "Too long, if you ask me."

"I'm not sure I approve. The amazons have long been faithful to us.  
My waters have kept their island secure for centuries of their  
worship."

"So did my skies, and how did this upstart girl show her appreciation?"

Artemis sighed. "We've been through this before."

"It is happening, Brother. The amazon travels through Tartarus as we  
speak. Now is your rightful turn to choose a challenge for her.  
Right after me."

Something stirred in the depths of Poseidon's sunken eyes. "You  
wanted her to fail. Yet she survived your attempt to break her.  
Interesting."

"She... had a fair chance. And got lucky. But will you really pose  
a challenge, or go easy on her, Brother?"

Poseidon snorted in derision, echoing the vast cetaceans. "The sea  
is never easy. Woe on those who forget that. Brother."

The golden trident began to glow. 

* * *

Diana stopped. The two amulet fragments in her grip were glowing  
brighter; light surrounded first her hand and then grew into a nimbus  
that enveloped her completely.

When the light withdrew, the Amazon Princess was somewhere else.

The gloom of the caverns deep below Themyscira was gone. She stood  
instead on a lichen-covered boulder overlooking a steep drop to the  
coastline, where dark waves bathed the sharp rocks under a clear blue  
sky.

She climbed down to the shore, and after careful examination of her  
surroundings, left the tattered remains of her clothing alongside her  
diminished bundle of supplies. Cautiously, she bathed in the icy  
waters, welcoming the cold on her skin, carrying her lasso on a  
shoulder and holding tight the two amulets pieces, secure in a pouch  
made from her damaged bustier.

When exiting the waters, she found that her armored clothes had been  
restored to pristine condition.

She muttered a brief thanks to the gods. She was being watched, of  
course, but how closely? 

* * *

Following the wordless tug of the amulet along the rocky coastline,  
she came to a settlement nestled against the stone walls, with homes  
ranging from modest huts to fancier places with ornately carved  
facades. Various fishing boats of assorted sizes were tied at the low  
wharf below. Sails were furled, and nets hung, unattended. No one  
could be seen moving about the place. She called out, and no voice  
answered, but as she walked closer, soon there was the faint murmur of  
people's voices, just past the farthest rock outcropping.

Following the sound, she came to an wave-lapped flat surrounded by  
towering sheer rockfaces that plummeted straight to the tumultuous  
waters, the only access to a wave-lapped rocky ledge provided by a  
narrow passage fractured into the rock. A crowd of several hundred  
gathered there, near large, lighted braziers, their voices overlapping  
in a cacophony of excitement and lamentation, underscored by the  
steady beating of two large drums of stretched sharkskin by brawny  
men. A thin old man began to address then with well-practiced  
cadence, his words flowing between the drum beats. Behind him, two  
spear-bearing men in stiff leather armor flanked a young blonde girl,  
whose slender arms were extended above her head, wrists bound by heavy  
metal manacles to thick, rust-stained metal rings firmly embedded into  
the rock. Her tanned skin, from neck to ankles, was covered with  
delicate swirling patterns of painted purple and blue, and between the  
peaks of her young breasts hung the many loops of an elaborate  
necklace of gaudy stones, matching the headdress gathering the long  
locks of golden hair. 

* * *

"-And blessed be this most beautiful maiden whose devout behavior  
shall bring honor to her house, as it brings peace to our people-!"

"STOP."

The drums grew silent. All eyes turned to the newly arrived amazon  
princess in shock, and people cringed away as she strode forward  
resolutely.

Assorted guardsmen leveled shaky spears at the tall, sable-tressed  
beauty, while the priest proved his mettle by speaking. "What-Who are  
you? What are you doing here?"

The dialect resembled some Mycenean variations Diana had studied in  
her youth. "I am Diana of the Amazons of Themyscira. I am on a quest  
for the gods of Olympus." She spoke slowly, careful to make herself  
understood in her best approximation of their grammar and syntax.  
"What are you doing to that girl?"

The crowd erupted in multiple cries and arguments, but the priest  
silenced them imperiously. "LIES! THERE IS NO OLYMPUS ANYMORE!"

"No Olympus?"

"THE OLD GODS ARE LONG GONE! NOW THERE IS ONLY THE KRAKEN!"

"-Kraken?"

"You do not fool us! We know of no Themyscira. No other place  
remains in the world where man may live but our nation. You must be  
an evil spirit sent to confound us! BEGONE FOUL APPARITION, OR WE  
SHALL DESTROY YOU FOR THE GLORY OF OUR LORD THE KRAKEN!"

"Are Kraken not creatures of the northern lands far from-?"

"SLAY THE DECEITFUL SPIRIT!" 

* * *

The golden lasso tightened around the now unarmed guards, bundled back  
to back against each other.

"Now stay still. I don't want to hurt anyone." Diana strode forward,  
tossing aside the broken spears. People cowered in fear at her  
proximity, but to his credit, the priest stood his ground before the  
foreign woman who towered over all of them.

"YOUR EVIL POWERS DO NOT SCARE US! THE KRAKEN WILL PROTECT US!"

Diana stepped around him and approached the bound girl. "Do not be  
afraid." She spoke soothingly, grabbing the heavy chains and easily  
twisting the manacles open, freeing the captive's wrists. "Have they  
hurt you?"

"N-No." The girl's voice was almost inaudible against the noise of  
the sea. She was almost two heads shorter than Diana, and her pretty  
face still held the softness of recent childhood. In the  
multi-colored neckpiece, a small piece of golden ceramic glowed  
softly, beckoning.

"Good. No one will. I will make sure of it."

"No... No-!"

"YOU WILL NOT-!"

Without looking away, Diana reached out and grabbed the priest's hand,  
forcing him to drop the sharp piece of rock, before pushing him away  
harmlessly.

"You need not fear these men, I can take you away from-"

"NO!"

With sudden desperate surge of strength, the girl pushed at Diana,  
driving her back in surprise.

"YOU GO AWAY!"

Diana frowned. "I just want to help you."

The girl lunged forward again, trying to beat on Diana's chest with  
her fists. "YOU WILL DOOM US! GO!"

"Doom you? Why would I-?"

She heard the noise of the churning waters before the people started screaming.

A long stalk of greenish flesh rose from the sea, the first of many.

The crowd panicked, running for the small exit passageway, while the  
priest lifted his hands and began to mumble unintelligible  
invocations. The nude girl's face blanched and she feel to her knees,  
her voice and strength gone in sudden despair.

Dripping seawater and dark algae, the tentacle reached the rock walls  
and began to slide over the surfaces, rippling and flapping, with  
tentative searching motions, their ends tapering from the thickness of  
a man's wrists to massive trunk-like stalks. For an instant, they  
flailed in vain at the place where the girl had been bound, making the  
metal rings and chains rattle, before slowly returning to their  
exploratory motions, inching towards Diana and the young girl. 

* * *

The thing had to be enormous, Diana realized, as she flew, tugging the  
tied mass of writhing tentacles. More and more of the thickening limbs  
came into view, struggling for release as she drew the creature far  
away from land, its body not yet surfacing above the waves. Diana  
hesitated at harming the kraken. It could be a mindless beast  
following its instincts, unaware of the foolishness of a superstitious  
people, knowing of the horrible ritual only the easy availability of  
food. Yet it had to be stopped, and taught not to return.

When they were far enough from the coast, she began to fly in a tight  
circle, twisting the tentacles against each other, like making a giant  
braid. Faster and faster it circled, creating a whirlpool on the  
sea's surface, which grew in width and violence more and more, until  
the shell-covered body of the creature finally broke the surface,  
rotating about the whirlpool's circumference like the weighted end of  
a gigantic rotating sling. With a final grunt, Diana threw the  
monster away, sending it skipping over the waves like an oversized  
stone.

That should teach it. 

* * *

Diana flew back to the sandy inlet, where the girl was still crying,  
down on her knees.

"It's gone now," Diana said, landing softly. "You are safe."

"NO!" Her sobs grew louder. "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!"

"But-?"

"YOU HAVE RUINED EVERYTHING!" 

* * *

Diana stood in a rocky outcropping, looking up at the clear night sky.  
Though familiar, the star patterns were incomplete, and inconstant.  
Large swathes of sky lacked their constellations for lengths of time,  
and whole galaxies faded and reappeared randomly, as if the universe  
were flickering in and out of synchronicity with this current part of  
the world. Frowning, she looked down at the village, the homes  
lighted by oil lamps.

They had thrown stones at her.

The priest had returned, leading a mob of fishermen, old and young,  
and their wives and children, conquering their fear of the powerful  
outsider through religious fervor. When she had tried to address  
them, to explain that they were delivered from the monstrous sea  
beast, they had thrown stones at her, cursing her, denouncing her for  
her crime, for her faithlessness, for her interference. She had  
dodged and blocked, and finally took to the air, unharmed, yet  
frustrated.

She could face the kraken, or any such monster. But how could she  
fight a people's faith in an undeserving god?

Bare feet met stone a dozen paces behind her.

"Do not be afraid," she said, spreading her open hands in a gesture of  
reassurance as she turned. He was clearly in his early teens, and his  
eyes darted nervously up from Diana's feet only in brief, hesitant  
glances. "I am not your enemy," she added.

His voice faltered twice before he mustered enough courage. "Are  
you... Are you a goddess?"

She smiled faintly. "A goddess? No, I am just a woman."

"But you... you flew. Like a bird." He glanced up again for an  
instant. "And your... your face, your..."

"I wield gifts of power. That doesn't mean I'm not-"

"Are you here to... to fight our god-?"

"Not if I can-"

"Or to wed him?"

"What-?"

"We offer brides. Every year. We give... our best, our most lovely  
maidens. But it's never satisfied. Always needs more. Again and  
again. But you..." He fell to his knees. "You must be a goddess.  
You have to be. Your beauty... and power, you..." Flickering light  
appeared and began to approach, and the young man grew even more  
nervous, continuing in a hurry. "If you marry the Kraken, it will  
surely be satisfied! How not? You are a goddess! It is fitting! We  
then would... She could..."

"DO NOT BLASPHEME!"

Torch in hand, the old priest marched at them, the fire lighting the  
anger in his face. The young man dared not look up from the ground.

"HOW DARE YOU-! BE GONE! NOW!"

The youngster jumped up and hurried away, not looking back.

The torch shock as the priest still trembled with fury. "The young...  
are weak."

Diana walked closer. "He said that your-"

The priest shook a hand in denial. "Why... Why are you here? To  
temp our young into heresy?"

"I only want to help."

"Help... who?"

"Help the girl. Help all of you."

"By attacking our god? Attacking our way of life?"

"The kraken is not a god."

"What kind of being are you to speak such heresy? Are you here to  
test our faith?"

"No, I just-"

"Our god is real, and powerful!" His gnarled hands quivered with  
anger. "We have known its wrath! How can we doubt it-?"

"It is real, and powerful, yes. But it's just a monster, a powerful,  
dangerous sea creature. Why would you worship such-?"

"Why do you worship yours? Are they not just other dangerous,  
powerful creatures? Aren't they all?"

Diana was taken aback for a moment. "It is not the same."

"Can any mortal judge the gods? Gods just ARE!"

"What kind of god would demand a human sacrifice? Ask for a child's life?"

"A cruel, merciless god! What other kind is there? What  
other kind has there ever been-? Are the gods you worship any  
different?"

Diana could not bring herself to state a flat denial. "Not all gods  
are the same. The goddesses of Olympus-"

He laughed, loudly, mirthlessly. "The Olympians? Where were they  
when the world was broken?"

"Broken-?"

"The father of my father was but a boy, yet he remembered the  
sundering of the world! The lightning, and the fires, and the waves.  
A war, he said it was. The seas and skies clashed with the ground,  
and the world was broken. It grew small, and empty, and we had  
nowhere to go. Everything was gone, swallowed by the waves, but for  
the remains of our nation. Where were the Olympians then? When we  
were stranded here?"

"Merciful Hera, how-? Was it during the Gigantomachy?"

"The what?"

"The War of the Giants." She shuddered. The chthonic remnants of the  
old powers had risen one last time against Olympus, only to be  
vanquished. She had learned of it as an epic tale of victory, of the  
Olympians triumphing against the last of the old, dark order, but what  
had the fallout been among the common people? "That was ages ago."

"I don't know. We were just fishermen. So many died. Drowned.  
Burned. Those few of us who survived almost starved, at first. The  
world changed, shrunk. Only this land and the seas remained. The  
seas... and the kraken."

"A... larger world remains beyond this place. My world. Olympus  
still stands in it."

"It does? And what good does it do us?" He grimaced, bitterly. "Why  
were we banished? Which was our crime?"

"I don't... I don't know." This place was a fragment of the ancient  
world, lost in time as well as space. The gods had sent her here, so  
they had to know about these people, about their being cast out of  
reality, collateral damage in the wars of higher powers. "I am sorry.  
I..."

"We all are. But we manage. We survive. Rock not the vessel, my  
father taught me, lest we all fall and drown. My father was priest  
before me, like his was, and so on, back to The Sundering. Rules were  
set down, in Sacred Scrolls, rules to obey. Rules to survive." He  
looked at her imploringly. "Go, woman, if woman is what you are. Go  
back to where you came from. And leave us. Leave us to our rules."

Diana struggled for an answer. Could she take these people back to  
the real Earth, away from this place? Could they fit in a world that  
had changed so much?

"I cannot. I have a quest to fulfill, and must move forward. I have  
been commanded to-"

The priest nodded. "We must all fulfill our duties." He extended his  
hand, and a small ceramic fragment glowed faintly in the open palm.  
"I saw your eyes follow this. Take it. Take it and go."

Diana stared, unsure. "I don't think I can just do that. I must earn  
it. And I don't-"

"Go, and you will earn our gratitude."

Hesitatingly, she took the offered amulet fragment, broken, like  
these people, like their world. In her hand, its glow faded, and it  
grew dark and cold. She shook her head, and handed it back. "It  
cannot be that easy."

"Our god will know that you remain here. It will stay away. And so  
will the fish. Our nets will be empty and so will our bellies. Will  
you doom us to starve?"

"I do not want that." There had to be a way. "Could I... make peace  
with... your god?"

"There is only one way to peace."

Diana's jaw tightened. "The sacrifice?"

"The Offering." 

* * *

The young man tended his nets sullenly, despondently. His eyes were  
downcast; the clear sky and bright sun held no joy for him anymore.  
But something came for him from the sky.

He would have yelled in horror if he could find his voice, as he was  
taken, high into the sky, where no man could ever venture, the realm  
of the birds, and of the foreign goddess.

"You love her, don't you?"

Through the fear, he understood, and nodded.

"Tell me about the Sacred Scrolls," the goddess said. "Tell me everything."

* * *

The blond girl cried softly, trembling, huddled in the bed, uncaring  
about the fine trappings and the rich meal set near. It had taken all  
her courage to walk straight the last time. How could she do it  
again? How could she be expected to do it twice? She cursed  
silently, at her people, who had chosen her, and at her god, who had  
not taken her, and most of all, at the foreign monster, the one who  
had interfered, prolonging her suffering, forcing her to live in fear  
for longer than any other Offering before her. What had she done to  
deserve such cruel punishment? Had she not kept herself pure, despite  
her longings, despite her love?

It would be over the next morning, as it should have been two days  
past, but she would face yet another night of abject terror and  
regret.

Suddenly, the door opened, despite dawn still being distant, and a  
tall figure walked in.

The girl scrambled back, horrified. It was her. The foreign monster.  
Her torturer.

"Don't scream," a familiar voice whispered, and from behind the  
monster, her beloved appeared. She broke down in tears again at  
seeing him. She had said her goodbyes in her heart. How could she  
endure this further torture?

"You-You can't be here!"

"But he is," the monster in woman's guise said. She touched his arm,  
and the blonde almost shrieked. How dare the cruel one touch him,  
when even that she had denied herself, once the choice had been known?  
Had they done more? Had her impossible, obscene body known more of  
his touch? More than she ever had, ever would? She fell down crying,  
desolate, furious at the injustice of the world.

Then she was in his arms, his hands running through her hair, his voice  
soothing music to her ears.

"No. No. I can't. We can't. You know! Just like I do! The  
Offering must have never known any man born of Earth!"

Then she felt the other's touch as well, gentle and wise, asking her  
body to relax, to surrender.

"Yes. The Offering." 

* * *

Diana merely encouraged, touching gently, stroking and guiding. Her  
mouth met the young girl's often, and taught her the many ways to  
kiss. She also showed him where and how to caress, how to best  
dispel the young girl's fear and reluctance, yet always left his  
touch for the girl alone. When the two ultimately joined, she held  
the girl's hand and nuzzled at her ear, whispering words of assurance,  
welcoming her to womanhood. 

* * *

The sun spread its warmth over the village as the crowd moved towards  
the Sacred Abode of the Offering, the weary priest leading the way.  
Suddenly, he staggered back, his strength faltering, as he saw the  
guards, still tied and unconscious. The door to the ceremonial hut  
opened and to his horror, the Offering walked out, not alone. Her  
hair was disheveled, as was his, and their skins showed more than just  
the red of shame.

"-What have you done-? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

The crowd erupted in cries and curses. Spears were raised towards the  
two young lovers.

The young man moved to stand before the girl. "Father, please, we..."

The priest ignored his son's words, shaken by outrage and despair.  
"YOU HAVE SINNED! YOU HAVE-!"

"They have loved each other. As they longed to." A third person  
strode out. "True love is never a sin."

The crowd gasped. The foreign woman, the intruder, wore the  
ceremonial headress and necklace, and her tall, nude body was covered  
with the ritual patterns of paint.

The priest blanched. "What sacrilege is this? How-?"

"You said I could make peace with your god. Through the Offering."

"But the Chosen-!"

"Is no longer eligible, as you can see. A substitute is needed, and I  
volunteer. I will make the peace you needed. I will be the  
Offering."

The crowd muttered and growled in doubt. The priest shook his head,  
trying to sort his world back into sense.

"But the Scrolls. The Rules..."

Diana smiled, and recited the Rules as set in the village's sacred  
Scrolls, speaking loud and clear, in perfect recollection. "The  
Chosen can be replaced by a volunteer only if deemed equally suitable.  
Suitable to deserve being a god's bride," she repeated. "Am I  
suitable? Am I beautiful enough for your god?"

The crowd grew silent. Eyes, male and female alike, were fixed on the  
lovely Amazon Princess, on her long legs and shapely hips, on her  
slender waist and large, proud breasts, on her delicate features and  
the dazzling eyes that challenged them to deny her.

The priest fought the dryness in his throat. "The Offering... must  
also be... Must have never..."

Diana nodded, and smiled. "No man born of Earth has ever known my body."

The priest stared in disbelief, and the crowd muttered. She was too  
beautiful, too alluring, too obviously sexual for their accepting her  
words at face value. Diana understood, and offered her lasso to the  
priest, placing its coiled length on his hand, while she still gripped  
it.

"The Lasso of Truth allows no deceit."

The priest's eyes spread wide, as the power surged through him and her alike.

"But... You..." His voice failed against the truth in her assertion.  
She hid nothing, and he saw she had indeed known sex, with other  
women, females almost as beautiful as her, with a male who was much  
more than just a man, born far among the stars, a fearsome god of  
distant darkness whose shadow made him shiver, and a bestial creature  
that could hardly be called a man.

"No man born of Earth," he ratified out loud, and his hands shook  
with the barest hint of hope. Hope he had never imagined rekindled.

She had already been chosen once by one god, one whose mere shadow  
made him shiver. Even beyond the literal reading of the Rules, could  
any other mortal ever be more fit to wed a god, in power and beauty?  
The priest could not deny the truth. There was no doubt.

"She-She is worthy." 

* * *

The drumming went on, relentless, while Diana waited, feet spread  
proudly apart, her arms raised above her head, with wrists held by  
chains that she could snap at any instant. But she chose not to,  
waiting, bound not by metal but by her word, by the sworn oath she had  
taken out of respect for these people and their faith, misplaced as it  
was. Waiting for the kraken.

Her lasso was coiled tight around her right arm, from elbow to  
shoulder, and secured between its loops was a small pouch of netting  
that held two pieces of softly glowing ceramic. The lasso glowed  
golden as well, in echo to their pulsing.

Finally, the water churned violently in advance warning, and the wait  
was over. Long, flexible stalks of wet flesh broke the sea's surface,  
reaching for the amazon princess. 

* * *

The two young lovers watched in horror and forlorn hope, as the long,  
grasping arms found their target, seizing it, coiling around the  
athletic arms and legs, the slender waist and buxom torso, squeezing  
and tugging at the firm flesh with undeniable urgency. The young girl  
sought refuge in her love's arms and began to cry. She had seen this  
before. She had feared its happening on her own body. She had  
imagined how the kraken would probe and taste her undeserving body and  
then tear it to pieces, to be consumed as mere meat, fit only to feed  
the lowest of hungers.

And now it would happen to the brave, beautiful stranger who had saved  
her, who had given her back her life, who had taught her love, who had  
taken her place. 

* * *

The prehensile limbs tightened around her body, dripping seawater as  
they slid, rubbing, tugging and probing, the myriad sucker mouths on  
the inner surface clamping hungrily on her flesh, leaving red sucker  
marks on her soft skin. She grimaced as her breasts were roughly  
grasped and squeezed, pulled and kneaded, while the sucker mouths  
seemed to target the sensitive vicinity of her aureoles and nipples.  
Her legs were powerfully tugged apart at the ankles, spreading her,  
before a thick, wet tentacle slid first over her right hip and then  
down her groin. The limb rubbed back and forth as it moved over and  
past her mound, grinding roughly against her loins, turning about in  
slow corkscrew fashion, until the line of suckers aligned with her  
most delicate flesh. The tentacle grinded with insistent strength  
against her, the thinner tip forcing its way between her tense ass  
cheeks, while the rest, tapering into greater thickness, pressed and  
rubbed at the silken folds all the way up to her mound, the suckers  
working like dozens of ravenous mouths, clasping on her. Tasting her.

Another tentacle moved to her face, its tip sliding over her chin to  
seek her mouth, but she twisted her face from side to side in refusal.  
The tentacles became even more feverish in their pulling and  
squeezing, the thick one between her legs grinded her outer labia into  
spreading, exposing her inner flesh to the suckers, and other  
tentacles joined in, their tapered tips poking and probing, seeking  
access to the promise of even stronger, deeper tastes. Diana gasped  
as one powerful limb tightened viciously around her long neck, but  
gritted her teeth close as another tip sought her mouth. The wet,  
salty flesh rubbed against her lips but her teeth remained closed, as  
did her innermost secrets. But she would afford the creature no easy  
access. The limbs grabbing her arms and legs pulled with monstrous  
strength, conveying the creature's annoyance, its power more than  
enough to have torn apart a normal woman. But Diana was not a normal  
woman. She was Wonder Woman.

"GO ON! TAKE ME! TAKE ME NOW!" 

* * *

To the crowd's astonishment, in a sudden burst of monstrous strength,  
the multiple tentacles pulled the Offering away from the rocky wall,  
the heavy chains breaking apart like dry algae, before drawing her to  
the water, to vanish beneath the frothing surface. 

* * *

The tentacles tore her headdress and necklace away, but the lasso  
looped around her upper arm held, and she felt the pulsing of the  
amulet fragments grow stronger, even as she was pulled deeper and  
deeper into the water, while the creature's grip grew more urgent,  
more demanding. She knew better than to fight the grasping arms,  
knowing she had to wait, wait to be taken deeper, taken to the core. 

* * *

The priest stood speechless, while many others feel to their knees and cried.

"She was taken. Alive and willing. The Offering is... accepted." He  
found his strength at last, and raised his arms high above his head.  
"THE OFFERING IS ACCEPTED!"

Cheers and cries of joy filled the air, covering the young blonde's sobs.

"THE KRAKEN HAS CHOSEN ITS BRIDE! TAKEN HER DEEP, INTO THE SACRED  
DARKNESS WHERE MAN MAY NOT GO! LONG AND FRUITFUL SHALL BE THEIR  
UNION!"

Away from the rocky shore, water burst upwards, erupting violently  
with a flash of golden light.

The priest yelled louder: "THE GOD AND ITS BRIDE HAVE BECOME ONE!  
LET US ALWAYS REMEMBER THE TIME OF THE CHOOSING AND THE TAKING!  
FOREVER SHALL WE BASK IN THEIR BLESSINGS!"

The blonder girl smiled through her tears, shaken by uncertainty, but  
warmed by gratitude and relief.

The old priest turned to her and her beloved, and his brows furrowed.  
"You two betrayed our trust. You must now be punished."

The young man did not flinch. "Father, I-"

"Silence. You will know now a lifetime of punishment, forced to  
endure each other, as husband and wife." The old priest's stern  
expression broke into a weary, but happy smile. "That shall teach  
you."

Her beloved hugged her tightly, and she looked up, secure in his love.  
He had touched her, and her alone, even with the beautiful stranger  
by their side. She would never doubt his devotion, as she would never  
forget the brave, lovely stranger, and the heartbreaking pleasure of  
her touch. 

* * *

Scattered on the ocean floor, the myriad remains of the kraken would  
not rot, and drew plentiful fish to the bay, for many, many excellent  
catch seasons. 

* * *

"You did not break her, either."

"She did well." The trident's glow faded. "She showed proper  
respect. That is just what the sea demands."

Zeus snorted in displeasure. "Respect? What respect did she-?"

Poseidon stood, his robes flowing like seawater about him. "I rather  
like her, this Princess of the Amazons. Strong. Adaptable. With  
unfathomed depths. I shall keep my eye on her."

"Oh, I'm sure you will." Hera smiled cynically. "And think of her  
depths, too. You are all the same."

Athena strode forward. "Diana has won her second Challenge."

Poseidon assented, and none challenged the assertion.

"Our other uncle is not here." Athena turned to Hera. "Will the  
Queen of Olympus do the honors now?"

Hera pursed her thin lips. "I must... decide with greater care. Let  
another choose now."

Athena looked about. "Brothers? Sisters? Who shall test Diana next?"

Aphrodite and Ares stared at each other, smiling, each unwilling to  
show their hand too early.

With a faint smile, Hermes stood up, spinning his metal helmet in his  
hands. "I can think of something quick."


End file.
